Happy With Your Health & Fitness

Part of our happiness is being happy with our body.  You don’t need to be a perfect “10″ to be happy with your body.  Little things that you do every day, like exercise, eating properly, and sleeping, yes sleeping, can effect our bodies. 

Any amount of exercise is better than none.  If you are out of shape you can start by walking a little each day.  Gradually increase the distance and the speed of your pace.  Walking is really the best, most natural exercise.  Once you have the walking down you can introduce other types of exercise like aerobics, home exercise equipment, yoga, dancing and the list goes on.  The important thing is start doing something.  It’s amazing the feeling of accomplishment that you get just by walking.  Your heart rate goes up, your oxygen levels increase, your muscles and bones strengthen, and you organs work better because of the increased blood flow and oxygen levels.  Getting started isn’t always easy.  Sometimes it helps to have a partner to work with you.  That way you can inspire each other to stick wtih your program of fitness.   Eating properly isn’t always easy either.  Alot of us have gotten in the habit of eating foods that aren’t the best for for us.  Change a habit today.  Eat a piece of fruit instead of a candy bar for a snack.  Drink water or tea instead of soda.  Try popcorn instead of potato chips.  If you change one bad eating a habit a month eventually you will find that you are eating heathier and that the change in your diet was an easy tranformation.  Don’t keep unhealthy foods in the house.  Temptation is always there when you are out in the world, but if you exercise a little will power, you can make the adjustments to a place where you make the right choices even when you’re away from home.

Sleep is the one thing that we are learning more about all the time.  Adults need 7-8 hours of sleep each day.  Sleep is important to your health and happiness.  A lack of enough sleep can make us be irritable and cause anxiety and depression, it effects our immune system, it impairs our memory the next day, and slows cell development and increases protein breakdown.  There are many other factor that are effected by our sleep patterns and quality of the sleep that we get.   The quality of our sleep is effected by how much sunlight we get during the day.  We need at get at least 30 minutes of outdoor time each day.  Indoor daylight just isn’t the same.  Experts say that 1 hour of morning sunlight can help your internal clock rest itself and help you go to sleep easier that night.  Do you know that caffine and nictine can take as long as 8 hours to wear off.  Alchohol may have seditive effects, but it keeps us from REM and deep sleep stages, and can cause you to wake when the alchohol wears off..  Besides limiting the effects that substances have on our sleep we can get in a routine for sleep.  Don’t eat a big meal for 3 hours before sleep.  Finish your exercises least 5 or 6 hours before sleep.  To get you ready for sleep do things that are relaxing like reading, taking a warm bath or listening to music.  Sleep in a dark room that is free from distractions like a tv, computer or other noices.  A comfortable bed is important too.  Keep the temperature cool.  If  all this fails, and you find yourself awake in the night, don’t lay in bed awake.  After twenty minutes or so of not being able to get back to sleep, get up and try doing something to relax yourself  so that you get sleepy again.

Thanks for reading,

Shoofly

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